Gandalf

Reason – Owner acknowledges his fairy-tale dream is a living nightmare for his horses

Special needs – Gelding & Training

Gandalf’s life before being brought to the Equamore Sanctuary is a fairy tale gone wrong. Named after the powerful wizard in “The Lord of the Rings,” the young stallion has been the innocent victim of an owner who dreamed of a tranquil herd of Percheron stallions and mares living freely on a large property in northern California. Unfortunately, Gandalf’s scarred body bares witness to the folly of allowing stallions to breed indiscriminately with mares who inhabit the same field.

We suspect that Gandalf was born in that field and has spent his entire life defending himself from the dominant stallion. We first learned of Gandalf and his herd mates in 2012, at which time the owner agreed to surrender a portion of his untrained and now unmanageable herd. A pregnant mare, her two-year-old filly, and her one-year-old stallion baby were taken to northern Oregon and re-homed in January of 2013. Three stallions, including Gandalf remained on the property with Diamond and another mare named Agate who died an accidental death before she could be rescued.

Finally, after the death of Agate, the owner agreed to surrender the remaining three stallions and one mare.With much effort, Gandalf, Flint, also a stallion, and the mare Diamond were loaded and trailered to the Equamore Sanctuary by a crew of intrepid Equamore staff and volunteers. Another stallion refused to be loaded and remains on the property to be retrieved at a later date.

Two days later, Gandalf was gelded and his most recent (and rather severe) wounds treated. He is a beautiful young draft who has responded well to his initial training, adapting to his new environment, where his quality of life will now continuously improve following his recovery from gelding surgery and healing war wounds.